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"3. It tends to wean us from the world. hear the sentence of death sounding in our ears, should we be elated with worldly prospects?

"4. Having the sentence of death in ourselves tends to make us diligent in the things of religion. Keeping death at a distance is the fruitful source of the sin of procrastination.

"5. This is the way to obtain the victory over death. The reason why death is so terrible to many is, that they think so little of it, and are deaf to the sound and sentence of it.

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6. Having the sentence of death in us leads to the use of means necessary to salvation. We see men, when death in their apprehension is approaching, wishing prayers and visits from ministers.

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7. It supports under sufferings, 2 Cor. iv., 17.

"8. It will influence to self-examination. When the midnight cry is made, it is time to see whether our lamps are trimmed and burning."

IMPROVEMENT.

"1. We see that there is evidently a controversy oetween God and mankind in general, in relation to the subject that has been discussed. God has pronounced the sentence of death on men, but they practically deny it, and pronounce the sentence of life.

"2. There is the same propriety in treating our fellow-creatures as dying men, as there is when actually dying. Some that are now well may die before them.

"3. Thoughtlessness about death is a source of great evil to men. 'Tis so in respect to families-closets

house of God-visits-death-beds.

"4. We have reason to fear that the unconverted will never be saved. They are dying, yet neglect sal

vation.

"5. Sinners are in a dreadful state. Under sentence of death, temporal, spiritual, and eternal."

This brief analysis can give but an extremely imperfect impression of the sermon. The train of thought here presented was interspersed with timely and impressive remarks, well adapted to the farewell occasion.

Mr. Haynes now returned to his family and flock, to give the finishing strokes to his earthly labours-to bid farewell to the world, and enter into his rest.

CHAPTER XVIII.

IEWS OF HIS CHARACTER AS A MAN, A CHRISTIAN, AND A MINISTER Of the gospeL, AND ON HIS DEATH-BED.

FROM the preceding narrative it will be seen that Mr. Haynes must have accomplished a great amount of good. He was emphatically a self-taught man; "the founder of his own fortune." And, viewing his humble origin, and the extremely limited means of his early education, he cannot fail to be regarded as an extraordinary man. His influence over minds was wonderful. He was also a child of grace, and no one could more appropriately adopt the expression of the apostle Paul, "By the grace of God I am what I am.”

Could we ascertain what were the constituent elements of his great usefulness, it would aid others in their plans of doing good. They may be summarily expressed in the following particulars :—

I. PERSONAL COMELINESS.

Although the tincture of his skin, and all his features bore strong indications of his paternal original,

yet in his early life there was a peculiar expression which indicated the finest qualities of mind. Many, on seeing him in the pulpit, have been reminded of the inspired expression, "I am black, but comely." In his case, the remarkable assemblage of graces which were thrown around his semi-African complexion, especially his eye, could not fail to prepossess the stranger in his favour.

II. TENDERNESS AND SYMPATHY WITH OBJECTS OF

DISTRESS.

No man had a more feeling heart, or was more sensibly affected at the sight of human suffering. Speaking in reference to his daughter, who was afflicted with long-continued and painful illness, he said, "I shall spend all my property, if necessary, rather than she shall suffer." In his last sickness, after being confined almost wholly to his house, a young woman sickened and died in the neighbourhood. Notwithstanding his own distressed condition, he had many tender anxieties for her, and offered prayer daily in her behalf. Hearing that her symptoms were worse, he said, "I must see her again!" With great difficulty and suffering he was carried to the house, that he might administer comfort to a dying fellow-mortal.

His sensibility knew no bounds. He would never see animals put to death if he could avoid it; much less would he see them subjected to wanton and needless torture. On seeing a lad having in his hand a small snake, which he was wantonly torturing to death, and was sporting with the writhings of the harmless though accursed animal, he said to him, "Why do you torture and kill the poor striped snake? It does no

harm." The boy very sagely replied, "It's according to Scripture, sir; the Bible says we must bruise the serpent's head."-"That," said Mr. Haynes, " means the old serpent. You may bruise his head as much as you have a mind." No one could more appropriately adopt the language of Cowper, and few possessed a greater measure of his indescribable loveliness and sympathy. "I would not enter on my list of friends,

Tho' graced with polished manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility, the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm."

III. QUICKNESS OF PERCEPTION.

"When a new subject was presented, or an intricate question was introduced, on which he had never brought his mind to bear, it was delightful to observe with what power he grasped the subject, and how readily he removed the difficulties it involved. During his ministry at Rutland, infidelity in various forms was fashionable. The writings of Payne, Allen, and Ballou were in the hands of many. The errors inculcated by these men he often combated with great power, both in the pulpit and in personal conversation. Other men may have far exceeded him in deliberate and protracted investigation; but for a sudden conflict, or an effort strictly extemporaneous, requiring all the energies of the mind at once, his powers were transcendent. Instances often occurred of a text being given him as he was about to commence a lecture or a funeral sermon, which, as a matter of courtesy, he would accept, illustrating it with as ́much self-possession and apparently with as much ease as if he had meditated upon it for weeks."* He was eminently ready for every emergency which reasonably

* Extract of a letter from Rev. A. Parmalee,

claimed his ministerial services. In a number of ordinations, when the appointed preacher failed, he has, without proper time for preparation, occupied the vacant place with much ability and acceptance. In one such instance, after the assembly had principally convened, he sketched the plan of his sermon, which was entirely appropriate, and was received with great satisfaction.

IV. GREAT MEMORY.

This high excellence was in part the gift of God, and in part the result of persevering cultivation. "Memory, like a friend, loves to be trusted, and will amply reward our confidence." Like other faculties of the mind, it is

capable of indefinite improvement.

"At the age of fifty," says Rev. Mr. Parmalee, "he could repeat nearly the whole of Young's Night Thoughts, Milton's Paradise Lost, Watts's Psalms and Hymns, and large unbroken passages from different authors, and more of the sacred Scriptures than any man I ever knew. When he had listened to a sermon or a conversation of great length, he could report the whole, and much of it in the very terms in which it was given. His memory was a safe depository for every thing he thought worthy of retaining, and hence it became a sort of proverb among his students, that his head was a concordance." In a single extempore sermon he usually referred to twenty or thirty texts of Scripture, always in his quotations giving chapter and verse, sometimes adding, "If I mistake not ;" generally, however, recollecting with confidence. One of his students in theology says, "I frequently noted the numerous passages he quoted in his sermons, for the purpose

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* Rev. Ashbel Parmalee.

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